TOEFL iBT - Support Skills

In addition to the primary and secondary skills, a wide variety of academic skills support your ability to ace the TOEFL. These include notetaking, summarizing, paraphrasing, outlining, mind-mapping, synthesizing, skimming, and scanning.

The chart below shows you the many times you will need to utilize these support skills throughout the exam.

Support Skills for the TOEFL iBT

Support Skills

Reading

Listening

Speaking

Writing

Note-taking

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Summarizing

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Paraphrasing

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Outlining

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Mind-mapping

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Synthesizing

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Skimming

Yes

No

No

No

Scanning

Yes

No

No

No

So make sure your TOEFL study plan covers each of these academic skills or you won't understand why you keep getting a low score on your practice tests. As in real academic life, all of these skills work together in an integrated way, to make you a more effective English student and communicator.